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I am glad to report that I made it safely to London. Despite a delay, a threat of another possible delay (they found another plane for us, which thankfully allowed me to make my connecting flight), and getting lost in Dulles, I infiltrated this crazy, busy, beautiful city. Several other mishaps such as my luggage wheels crumbling, my water bottle leaking all over my documents (tickets, passport, etc.), and both of the zippers of my bag breaking made for a less than smooth arrival to London, but nonetheless, it all worked out and I’ll keep the complaining to a minimum. Maybe.

My first day in London is fast becoming a hazy memory because I was tired and unfocused from the lack of sleep and general travel woes. We’ll see how well my memory is (hint: it’s not great, ask Taylor or anyone who has heard me attempt to tell a story).

After a ridiculously nauseating ride to the dorms, which was 546431384512x worse than the flight for me due to some dubious airplane food, we arrived at King’s College on Stamford Street. Jade and I unloaded our luggage in our respective rooms and immediately hit the neighborhood for an impromptu tour, mostly to fend off sleep and kill time before our scheduled afternoon neighborhood tours. I have to admit that my first impressions of London were mixed. I adored some of what my foggy mind and queasy stomach saw on the coach to the dorms, but the hustle and bustle of the city did stress me out at first. I definitely could not imagine living in such a huge and busy city with millions of anonymous bodies moving around and about. We’ll see how I feel at the end of this trip.

Cute al fresco dining area at the South Bank

Our class neighborhood tour took us to Waterloo Station, which was a madhouse because of a million delays, the fact that we were there at 5pm on a Friday, and those million delays.

We also took a walk on the South Bank where we passed many notable places: the British Film Institute, the Southbank Centre Book Market, and the London Eye, with a few glimpses of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. I know that I definitely left out a few notables, but remember that memory of mine? Yeah, it’s not great. I imagine that I’ll explore much more of the South Bank in the following month.

Feminist Sven and Big Ben

We had a quick reception back at King’s College. After eating, the gals, i.e. Jade, Taylor, and Laura Douglass made our way to Waterloo in pursuit of Oyster cards. We got weekly passes and took the opportunity to ride a few trains. We ended up at St. Pancreas and King’s Cross station (we didn’t think to visit that infamous Platform 9 and 3/4, but we’ll get there one day). From that general area, we hopped on a bus (or two) and made our way back to the dorms. Let me just say, double decker buses are definitely the way to go. They are speedy, crafty buggers and it’s fun watching them navigate London roads. London bus drivers are my favorite people of the moment. I admire their mad skills.

I went to bed at a reasonable time (10pm, perhaps), but unfortunately, my body refused to sleep past 2am, so I must report that I had a 2-3 hour Netflix time suck. On happier Netflix-related notes, I found that we get the UK selection and Taylor recently discovered that Archer Season 5 was available, so yeah, we will definitely be watching that.

I got a few more hours of sleep and rolled out of bed at 8am. We had our class orientation at 9am. It was great to hear about some of the locations we will visit and learn more about my fellow students. I will admit that I am terrible with names and I can’t be trusted to learn everyone’s name quickly. Following this, we had a general orientation with the larger group. I was fast becoming hangry at this point, so I was more than happy to stop into Pret’s for a prosciutto and basil sandwich. It was a great and quick lunch and I can definitely imagine going back to try some of their other offerings. I was just thrilled to eat a nice, crunchy baguette (soft bread seems to be ubiquitous in Columbia, SC – soft bread can be great, but I do love me a fresh baguette).

Feminist Sven visits St. James’s Palace

With fuel in my belly, we embarked on a LondonAlive! tour. The gals and I went on the tour focusing on Women, Suffragettes and London landmarks. We learned about the significance of Florence Nightingale, Boudica (Queen of the Iceni tribe who tried to run out the Romans), and Emmeline Pankhurst (suffragette) in relation to London statues and buildings. Other places of interest include the Monument to the Women of World War I, Clarence House (where the Queen Mum lived), St. James’s Palace (I totally touched it), and Trafalgar Square (Emma Hamilton, Admiral Nelson’s infamous mistress). I loved this tour and I am definitely considering weaving women’s rights into my research paper somehow. We’ll see.

We broke off from the group at Trafalgar Square and headed underground towards South Kensington where we visited Ben’s Cookies. I do believe those cookies are what dreams are made of. Amazing.

From South Kensington, we took the bus to Hyde Park. We took some gratuitous gnome pictures, posed with the Peter Pan statue, watched the swans and geese at the Serpentine (lake at Hyde Park), and walked by the Italian Garden at Kensington Gardens. At this point, we were quite hungry again (if memory serves right, Jade’s pedometer clocked us at 8 miles at this point, give or take a mile).

London Eye

We took a bus towards Victoria Station and after two failed trips to overcrowded pubs, we found refuge at our third pub. The service was questionable, as the waitress (not from the UK based on her accent) seemed to laugh and mock us. It was an odd experience, which I will happily attribute as a odd, personal quirk and not the rule. Who knows?

From the pub, we took the tube to Westminster in search of ice cream. Alas, the venture was for naught as the only stand we found was closing down for the night. On a happier note, we found a man standing on the bank playing bagpipes, so it was a decent end to a long day.

I should definitely be asleep right now, but I’m not because I’m a rebel like that. If I had Dumbledore’s Pensieve, I might have trusted those memories to keep, but since I don’t, it was best to work them out asap.

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